Let's Hunt Some Orc - United Cutlery's Upcoming Blade Releases

Jonathan | September 6, 2002

Going to hunt some orc anytime soon? Well, if you plan to tag along with Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli as they attempt to rescue Merry and Pippin from the Uruk-Hai this December, no need to visit the Imladris Bladesmiths or Dwarven smiths of the Lonely Mountain; United Cutlery has all that you need to make your own formidable orchunting armory.

Kit Rae has confirmation on several much sought after Lord of the Rings blade releases and some hints of what might just be coming as a followup.

First, if you're into hunting Hobbit, Elf, Dwarf, or Man, and tend to go around in loose-fitting black robes and screech a lot, then the just released Ringwraith sword is for you. Of this blade Kit says, "Its out now. This is the one that has the straight cross guard with the barbs. Seen most clearly being wielded by three Ringwariths in the battle at Weathertop and by most of the others just before the Ringwraiths went swimming at the ford. I have been asked if these appearagain in TTT and ROTK, but so far I don't have that info. I hope so." I saw one of these blades at DragonCon just recently, and it is quite a beauty; yet, United Cutlery has also managed to catch the sinister presence of the Nazgul as well. Spooky, albeit beautiful, blade.

Don't care to collect the fullsize swords, or running out of room on your walls for more? Or, perhaps you need something to hang in those smaller spaces that are just crying out for attention? Never fear, United Cutlery will soon be releasing their 1/6 scales replicas. Says Kit, "Expect Sting, Glamdring, and the Witchking's sword to start shipping from dealers in the next 4-6 weeks. More miniatures will follow next year."

Taking Sting with you on the hunt? If so, United Cutlery will soon have a scabbard for your blade to help protect this Elven masterpiece. "If all goes well," Kit tells us, "(The scabbard) Should be shipping towards the end of next month." Note: In a recent article that I wrote, "An Aged and Broken Narsil", I reported incorrectly the difference between United Cutlery's Sting and the Noble Collection's Sting. Kit has given me the precise differences between these similar replicas, "Our Sting is smaller than Noble's. It is the scale you see in the film (I think we enlarged it 5%). Nobles is the larger "prop" scale, the size the prop was made to make it "appear" correct when Elijah Wood was holding it in the film. Also, our sword is made with a wood grip like the prop. Noble's is made with a metal grip, painted brown, with the paint ground off the raised vine decoration. They make a scabbard but it is too big for our sword. We have a correct scale UC scabbard coming out shortly."

Set for October or November release, (very tentatively per Kit), we will have the gorgeous Sword of Arwen, (and Elrond and Idril): Hadhafang. I have heard that this sword's display will not be a wallhanger, but instead will be a tabletop style display. Along with Hadhafang, the Limited Edition Shards of Narsil is set for release, but Kit stresses that this projected release date is "not finalized yet." He went on to say that the Shards of Narsil, "...Will be on a plaque. Edition not determined yet, but probably 5000 pieces."

It doesn't stop there either, mellyn. "Extremely tentative" is the operative word, but United Cutlery is trying for an November or December release for Strider's Ranger Sword and the Uruk Hai Scimitar, both of these blades are from FOTR and TTT.

Are you drooling yet? No? Well, this next set should set you going: Kit says that these are not "confirmed projects"...yet, but look what else is going into the smithy order bin, (all quotes are from Kit Rae):

Ranger Sword Scabbard - "We are working on a scabbard for Strider's rangersword, which would include the dagger in its built on sheath, as seen in thefilm. You can see the dagger clearly in the scene where Aragorn kneelsbefore Frodo at the end of FOTR."

Strider's Elven hunting knife - "This is the curved blade knife Aragornsheaths at the end of FOTR, just before he says 'lets go hunt some Orc'. TheElves gave it to him in Lothlorien. This knife giving scene should berestored in the extended DVD coming out in November. The hunting knife alsoappears in TTT."

Legolas' Fighting Knives - "These will be a set, probably on a plaque. We arewaiting to see how much they are used in the next film before we proceed.Legolas also uses a sword in the next film, in addition to his bow."

Well, with what UC is going to make available to us, we should have no trouble in hunting the orcs and rescuing our dear Pippin and Merry. We'll definitely need LOTS of these blades once we get to Helm's Deep, but I think that Kit and his crew have us covered there as well.

You know, Father Christmas and Polar Bear are going to have a sleigh full of swords and scabbards this holiday season, aren't they? I wonder if naughty or nice has a bearing on which type of sword you will be eligible to receive in this manner? Well, either way, it's still more convenient than traveling to Imladris or Erebor to gear up, isn't it?

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